There were a lot of movies to look forward to in the Centerpiece category this year, but when I saw the Special Jury Prize winner in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard category last year, I knew I had to add it to my list. Iron Boy is about Christophe (Gary Clichy), a boy who lives on a farm in rural France as he learns to live with an iron back brace because of dizzy spells. Set in the late 80s and early 90s, the lack of technology is striking. As Christophe learns how to live daily life with the back brace, he feels out of place, as one would. 

Certain everyday tasks become harder, and he gets frequently frustrated. Former Pixar animator Louis Clichy constructs these ideas with beautiful watercolor animation, making every plot beat feel earned. What helps in these sequences of learning or emotional growth is the score, which centers on the church organ and church choirs. This is because part of the story is that Christophe learns the Church Organ as an outlet to adjust to the iron back brace. It starts as a slow subplot but becomes more meaningful throughout the film, as the music grows more heightened as the film goes on. 

The story hits familiar beats, as most do in a genre like this, but the animation and personal aspects make the movie feel necessary. I’ve never seen a movie like this before in terms of the animation and how it applies to the story. The watercolor animation slowly bleeds into the frame, and each frame feels so deep because of it. This is especially true in the sequences when Christophe rides his bike, whether that’s into town, school, or the church. Another moment where the animation shines is when the family farm could be lost due to financial issues. In these conversations, parts of the frame are shaded in darkness or have less color than the film normally has. It never felt out of place and was easy to digest when these dampening colors appeared. 

The animation itself outside of the scenes pointed out is beautiful. It does take a moment to get used to because I had never seen an animated film like this before. I was hoping it would not get repetitive, as it is a lot of the same colors and drawings. In a time when animated films are combining different forms of animation in one movie, such as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). It was refreshing to see an animated film stick with one style for the whole runtime because there was a reason it was drawn and painted this way. It brings it back to the simplicity of the story and the time in which the story takes place. Animated films in the late 80s and early 90s were made with an inherently consistent animation style, and they were mainly drawn as well. In an age where most animated films are digitally made, it is nice to see an animated movie go back to the medium’s roots and be hand-drawn. 

I do wonder if animated films will go back to this or will they just continually upgrade in the digital space. Not that digitally animated films are a bad thing, but it seems the industry is trying to go back to making movies “practically’ and to me, the practicality of animation is hand-drawing every frame. Hand-drawing every frame adds depth to the movie.

Iron Boy is one of the best animated films of the year. It is able to seamlessly shift between the different aspects you would expect from a movie structured like this, but it is told so earnestly that it is hard not to enjoy what is happening on the screen. The animation is another defining aspect and is honestly the one reason alone you should give this movie a shot. The film’s practical work is another strong aspect, and I hope that practicality continues in animated films yet to be made.

Review Courtesy of Jacob Diedenhofer

Feature Image to Sony Pictures Classics